Ever since Oog tripped and fell in the mud chasing that woolly mammoth, we fallible human creatures have been telling jokes — about each other, about ourselves, about family and religion and the universe as we know it.

Jokes provide a laugh, a chuckle or a groan, but they carry may serious side-effects as well. They can serve as verbal doses of medicine, salve for the aching soul, a refreshing splash for the weary mind.

And every July 24, we celebrate Tell an Old Joke Day. (Disclaimer: the emphasis is on “old,” not necessarily “good.” Some of the jokes used to celebrate the day are certifiable groaners).

The first recorded joke dates back to 1900 B.C. It was a Sumerian one-liner and, unfortunately, suggests toilet humor so will not be repeated here.

The recently discovered Greek document “Philogelos” (“The Laughter Lover”), written in the third or fourth century A.D., contains some 260 jokes. One 1,700-year-old example:

“A barber, a bald man and an absent-minded professor take a journey. They camp overnight, and decide to take turns watching the luggage. When it’s the barber’s turn, he gets bored and amuses himself by shaving the professor’s head. When the professor is awakened for his shift, he feels his head, and says ‘That stupid barber! He woke up the bald man instead of me!’”

Humor is as individual as musical taste, but some jokes have endured because of their universality. Examples abound in all genres: puns, knock-knock jokes, shaggy dog stories (long-winded narratives with an anticlimactic groan-worthy punchline), irony, slapstick, understatement, limericks and humorous observations about the little things in life.

Perhaps the best way to finish an article about old jokes is to present you, the reader, the opportunity to test your knowledge of some vintage chestnuts:

1. Two antennas meet on a roof, fall in love and get married. The ceremony wasn’t much, but —.

2. “Knock, knock.” “Who’s there?” “Oswald.” “Oswald who?” “—.”

3. Two men walk into a bar. The third man —.

4. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak got chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Of course, it sank, proving once again that —.

5. “I just flew in from Chicago. —.”

6. Why can’t you trust atoms? —

7. I auditioned for the part of a mime, but —.

8. I ate too much Middle Eastern food. Now I —.

9. A three-legged dog walks into an Old West saloon and says, “I’m looking for the man who —.”

10. I heard a knock on my hotel room door. I asked “Who is it?” and the voice said, “Turndown service.” I said, “Come on in.” The voice said, “—.”

11. What if there were no —.

And, to bring it full circle: 12. A priest, a minister and a rabbi walk into a bar. The bartender looks up and says, —.”

1. The reception was excellent. 2. “Oswald my bubble gum.” 3. Ducked. 4. You can’t have your kayak and heat it too. 5. “Boy, my arms are killing me!” 6. Because they make up everything. (Bonus answer: You have to keep your ion them.). 7. I talked myself out of it. 8. Felafel. 9. “Shot my paw.” 10. “No.” 11. Hypothetical questions? 12. “What is this, some kind of joke?”